Midnight Talk
by ncis-lady
Summary: Something was wrong. Totally wrong. He knew that for sure, but at first he couldn’t tell what it was. Then he realized that his doorbell was ringing.Sandle oneshot. T for language.


Hey, this is my Sandle oneshot. Dedicated to the cutest CSI couple (_what_ is GSR? Never heard of it lol)! Hope you like it!

* * *

**Midnight Talk**

Something was wrong. Totally wrong.

He knew that for sure, but at first he couldn't tell what it was. Then he realized that his doorbell was ringing.

That wouldn't have been unusual, hadn't it been for the fact that it was 1 am and he had been sleeping for an hour. He blinked a few times, trying to switch on the light. Finally he succeeded. He got up fast, putting on his shirt and sprinted downwards.

Never before had someone been at his door at this time, and suddenly he was afraid. What if something had happended?

In a second he was at the door, took a deep breath and opened it.

"Sara?!"

"Greg."

It was only one word, but it was enough for Greg to know that something was totally wrong indeed, he could tell by the tone in her voice. In the dark he could hardly see her face, so he took her by the hand as she didn't move.

"Come on, Sara, it's cold out there."

For a blink of an eye he thought of how stupid he had to look, wearing only his boxers and the shirt he'd been wearing all day, his hair undone, with bare feet. Then he pushed the thoughts aside and led Sara to his kitchen.

* * *

"Would you like some coffee?"

Sara nodded slightly, and in the dimlit light he could see that she had been crying. She was playing with a packet of paper tissues absent-mindedly, avoiding his enquiring look.

Greg put two cups of coffee onto the table and sat down opposite her. She took the cup und held it with both hands, as if to warm them.

"Are you cold?", Greg asked anxiously. "I could…"

"It's okay, thank you", Sara said with a vague smile.

Not taking his eyes off the young woman, Greg took a sip of the steaming liquid.

"Ouch!", he yelled, nearly dropping the cup. "Damn!"

Sara chuckled and for a moment she looked just as happy as everyday. But then the unfamliar, distant look crawled upon her tanned face again.

Carefully Greg took his coffee again, smiling at her.

"You can drink it, you know. You just have to ignore the fact that it burns your tongue like sulphuric acid."

Sara didn't reply, and there was nothing he would like to ask her more than why she had turned up at his house in the middle of the night. But somehow he had the notion that he shouldn't ask. So he just sat there, watching her and thinking.

Finally he had got what he had been dreaming of for so long. She was here with him, they were alone, and obviously she needed him.

Well, in his dreams things had been easy, he would help her, she would be thankful and tell him that she'd loved him all along. They'd end up kissing and wake up in his bed the next morning.

Now he realized it wasn't that simple.

* * *

"Must seem freaky, huh?", Sara suddenly broke the silence. "Me waking you up and looking like crap and all."

"I love freaky stuff", Greg grinned.

"I'm sorry all the same", she muttered and turned her head to look out of the kitchen window at the pitchdark night.

"No need to apologize", the young man said and tried to look into her eyes. "Acually, I have to say sorry for welcoming you still with my boxers on, that's no way to treat a lady, you know."

Sara laughed quietly. "I've seen you before, Greg. Everything."

Greg couldn't help blushing a little, but he tried to forget about that long gone day.

For a few seconds there was silence again, until Sara finally looked at him.

"I didn't know where else to go." She sighed deeply. "It was just so…"

"So what?", Greg asked, glad that she had made the first step.

"I've been thinking a lot, Greg", Sara said quietly. "About me, about Grissom, just about everything and I… I felt like I didn't get an anwer, you know?" She hesitated. "I felt like standing on a cliff, without a way back, knowing that I'll have to jump, fearing the abyss. – Got a little drunk, I suppose", she added with a fake smile.

"I didn't notice that", Greg remarked.

"That's self-control."

"There's a difference between self-control and pushing emotions aside. But…"

"I don't…", she interrupted him with an unfinished sentence, her voice a bit louder than usual, her fingers shakily holding the coffee cup. "Whatever I… fuck!" The cup slipped through her hands, spilling the liquid all over the table.

Quickly Greg jumped to his feet and grabbed some cloth from the sink.

"I'm sorry", Sara whispered hoarsely.

"It's okay", he reassured her and wiped away the black coffee.

"It isn't!", she cried and buried her face in her hands. He could see the tears streaming down her face, she was shivering, and he just stood there motionless because he didn't know what to do. "Damn sometimes I feel like… fuck… my life's a mess…"

Greg sat down and carefully took her shaking hands away from her face.

"What I wanted to say was: you may be self-controlled as much as you like. But you don't have to hide your feelings from me." He smiled warmly.

"You don't understand, Greg", Sara sobbed desperately. "You just don't understand…"

He squeezed her hands slightly, trying to make her feel better. He wouldn't urge her to talk, she would tell him what she thought he needed to know when it was her time. Tenderly he caressed her fingers with his, feeling her soft skin underneath his fingertips.

After a while her sobs ebbed away and she rubbed her eyes in a vain attempt to make the tears forgotten, with the result that her eyes became even redder than before. Gently Greg wiped the tears away, following the silvery lines on her cheeks with his fingers.

Sara closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again and looked directly at her friend.

"The problem is…" She inhaled deeply. "The problem is that I don't know if I love him anymore."

"You don't know?", he repeated, a bit confused. "How can you not know?"

"It's so difficult sometimes. I like him, a lot, and I know he's always there for me, he loves me with all his heart. And yet…"

Greg nodded understandingly, letting go of her hands, watching the expression on her face.

"There's something missing, isn't it?"

"I don't even know what it is, but… I can't tell him, Greg!" She sighed and turned her face away from him, as if there was something very fascinating about the white wall.

They were quiet for a while, as if they knew that both of them needed some time alone, lost in their own thoughts.

Greg was torn in a way he'd never experienced it before. Something told him that he shouldn't be selfish but only be concerned about Sara, but still the little devil on his right wanted him to be happy about the development.

He loved Sara.

Sara used to be in love with Grissom, his supervisor.

Grissom loved Sara.

Sara didn't know if she loved him anymore.

It was a tragic triangle, and one of them was going to lose it all. And Greg prayed with all his heart that it wouldn't be him.

* * *

"Greg?"

"Hm?"

"Can I… sleep here? Please."

"Sure", he replied, surprised by the strange tone in his voice. "I guess I'll take the couch, then?", he added with a grin on his face.

And after what had seemed like an eternity, Sara gave the smile back to him, like an unexpected and yet so much wanted present he'd been longing for so long.

When he laid down on his old sofa he realized how cold he had become during the last hour. He hadn't even noticed.

And as he covered himself with the thin blanket, he still saw her her, lying in the half lit room, a stray of her silky hair hiding her closed eyes, only revealing the peaceful smile on her beautiful face.

He wouldn't wake up next to her.

But she had come there for _him_, because she needed him, and deep inside Greg knew that he had given her the best he could.

And maybe some day the best would be enough for her. Until then he would wait. There was no need to hurry.

Finally time was on their side.


End file.
